No Montreal Replacement as Formula E Calendar is Reduced

The fourth season of the ABB Formula E Championship will have the New York E-Prix double header in July as its finale after organizers were unable to find an adequate replacement for the cancelled Montreal races.

The decision means that the season will consist of 12 races from 10 events and feature just one further double-header fixture following the already-run season opener in Hong Kong.

Montreal was cancelled last month after a change in governance in the city saw the new Mayor, Valerie Plante, scrap the planned event with which it had a contract already in place with Formula E Holdings.

A meeting of the FIA Commission took place on Wednesday with a special emphasis on the calendar, which included a meeting of the calendar steering committee which was formed last year.

Formula E had explored various options to fill the void left by the Montreal cancellation, including a second race at the inaugural Rome E-Prix in April and an event at the Norisring in July.

However, Formula E has decided that with insufficient time to create a large scale event on a new street circuit and the logistical difficulties of adding a Sunday race in Rome, that no replacement was the only credible solution.

Formula E has been forced to cancel, postpone or move races on several occasions since its first season in 2104/15.

A race in Rio was dropped from the original calendar in Season One, while in May 2016 a second Moscow E-Prix was scrapped. Season Three saw a planned race in Brussels canceled and the Berlin city centre race, which took place in 2016, moved back to the Tempelhof airfield.

Sam Smith is e-racing365's Formula E Editor. A 20-year veteran in motorsports media, including press officer roles in both the FIA Sportscar Championship and at Lola Group, Smith is a well-known face in the Formula E paddock, where he served as series editor for Motorsport.com from 2014-17. Contact Sam